What cost the high-priced recruit?

Two-time AFL premiership captain

I can't say honestly I know what's going on in the Sydney Swans changerooms at the moment, and whether the arrival of Buddy Franklin and Kurt Tippett has created any problems. What I do know from experience, though, is that the recruiting of highly paid ''outsiders'' can cause disharmony and unhappiness among a playing group. I've seen it happen first-hand.

When North Melbourne was on the rise in 1992, we drafted a player by the name of Robert Pyman from Woodville-West Torrens. He'd had a good season in the SANFL and caught the eye of North recruiters by playing well on a guy called Nathan Buckley.

Wayne Carey Photo: Vince Caligiuri

The problem was he'd reportedly signed a lucrative deal – and was getting paid more than Anthony Rock, Anthony Stevens, Wayne Schwass and all those guys who'd been together since the North under-19s and had helped build the club into a really promising young side. And that created friction, no doubt about it. It was nothing personal against Robert, but some players questioned the move and began to whinge among each other. They'd put in years of hard work and felt a bit short-changed. Straight away, our team spirit and the tight-knit fabric of the group, was affected.

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I experienced a similar situation myself when I joined Adelaide a decade later, in 2003. The Crows had never brought in a highly paid recruit from another club (with the possible exception of returning local boy Darren Jarman). They understood how such a move had the potential to damage team morale and lead to disharmony.

Before I signed, club officials stressed the importance of fitting into the Crows' pay structure – they felt it would be dishonest and disloyal to players at the club, guys who'd already done the hard yards and won premierships for the Crows, if they paid me more than them.

Robert Pyman Photo: Ken Irwin

Mark Ricciuto, Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin and Tyson Edwards were all getting paid way less than they could have earned on the open market – because they all understood that was how it had to be if they wanted to continue with their team success.

So I was told I wouldn't be getting paid more than their best player, which at the time was Ricciuto, the captain. And fair enough, too. That seemed reasonable to me.

But a few years ago, I read with interest that the Crows were making a play for Matthew Pavlich, a South Australian, and trying to lure him back from Fremantle. I found that surprising because it would have gone against everything the club stood for – and opened up a proverbial can of worms.

Similarly, I know that the club offered Tippett more money a few years ago – before he left – when he was coming out of contract and the Swans were circling. That caused a fair bit of angst among the senior players, who felt Tippett was being paid over the odds while some of them had to take pay-cuts in order to fit him into the salary cap.

This is the situation Sydney now finds itself in. They Swans have decided to pay Franklin $10 million over nine years – an enormous commitment in terms of money and time. Tippett is reportedly receiving only marginally less per season. Good luck to them. They've done fantastically well for themselves and which players would seriously think about knocking back that kind of offer?

But the question now has to be asked after two straight Swans losses: what price has the club really paid?

We know some Sydney players were asked last year to take pay cuts – or at least accept that they wouldn't be given pay rises – for the good of the team.

When it became clear to them that the Swans had made a huge play for Franklin, and that their pay sacrifice was actually helping fund the superstar's recruitment, then that must have caused some grumbling among the group.

What about the famous Bloods culture? What about the great team men like Adam Goodes, Jarrad McVeigh, Nick Malceski, Kieren Jack, Heath Grundy, Ryan O'Keefe and Ted Richards, the guys who brought the Swans the ultimate success? How were they supposed to feel?

Players at the Brisbane Lions and, later, Geelong all took less money in order to keep their successful squads together and keep alive the hope of winning another flag.

When this happens, and guys make those sacrifices for the good of the team, it helps build a very strong bond. It says that team success is far more important to them than individual riches.

I can't help thinking that my ex-teammate and now Sydney coach John Longmire – who has helped build the Bloods culture over the last 10 years – was not 100 per cent behind these signings.

He would have understood that he'd have to let some players go – and they ended up being important players like Shane Mumford, Jed Lamb and Andrejs Everitt – and how the club culture, embodied by the likes of Paul Kelly and Brett Kirk, was likely to be damaged.

This is not Buddy's fault – or Tippett's – by the way. Who could ever begrudge these guys for securing their futures?

But my experience is there is always friction, spot fires and envy at footy clubs – even when things are going great. When they're not going so well – which they're not at Sydney at the moment – those problems are magnified.

Chris Judd is a great example of a high-priced recruit who has done great things for his new club, but his situation was slightly different because Carlton had not enjoyed any success over the previous decade. The team was crying out for a leader and a player like the former West Coast champion. And Judd, as captain and leading midfielder, has repaid the club in spades with his efforts so far.

So that's what Buddy and Tippett need to start doing. If they start performing like million-dollar players, their teammates won't care about their salary; they'll be delighted to have them on board.